Cinderetta
by Rose Thorne
Summary: Adrien's dismissal of Marinette's feelings about Lila's lies lead to near catastrophe when she's Akumatized. Quick and dirty crack-umazation fic.


**Cinderetta**

by Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: You wouldn't want _Miraculous Ladybug_ to belong to me. Just trust me on that one.

* * *

"Her lies aren't hurting anyone. If we confront her, she might get Akumatized."

Marinette frowned at Adrien. He looked so very earnest, like he just didn't understand how dangerous lies could be. Maybe he didn't.

"Adrien, what about me?"

She hadn't told him she'd almost been Akumatized, only narrowly avoiding it after Lila had threatened her in the bathroom. Perhaps if she did…

But as she was opening her mouth to tell him, he spoke.

"What _about_ you?"

She gaped at him, her mouth open, jaw slack, for what seemed like an hour but was really more likely only a few seconds. He couldn't mean that how it sounded, could he?

"I don't know why you're making it about you," he continued. "This is about helping _Lila_. I don't understand why you're being selfish.

Oh. So he did mean it.

He _knew_ she was lying, and was still like Alya.

Ignorance, she could forgive. This, not so much.

From his body language, she could tell he wasn't willing to listen to her, just like Alya.

"Oh. So my feelings don't matter. I should have known."

Marinette spun on her heel before he could see her cry and think even worse of her. Not that she cared—but she did, that was a lie—but she didn't want anyone to see her like this.

She didn't want anyone to see her vulnerability after discovering her crush was the biggest dumb-fuck on the entire planet.

Adrien was calling her name as she walked away, but she didn't stop.

Alya grabbed her arm. "How 'bout it, Marinette? You'll make the cake to celebrate Lila's return to Paris, right?"

She brushed past Alya without a word.

"Not cool, Marinette! Don't be so selfish! You need to—"

Marinette stopped listening, let Alya's voice become indistinct to her ears. Why her best friend thought Marinette would volunteer her effort for someone she'd told her was lying was beyond her. It didn't deserve an answer, not one that was acceptable. She could see Lila's smirk, see Nino's concern, but none of it mattered. All of it was a blur.

She marched right out of the school, down the street, home, past her parents, up to her room, up to the rooftop balcony, before she even knew she'd made the decision.

Wind on her face, turning the tears on her cheeks cold, jolted her from her stupor, and she felt like a tea kettle waiting to shriek.

And so shriek she did, to Paris, to the entire world.

"WHAT A FUCKING MORON!"

"-ON… -ON… -ON!" echoed back at her from the nearby buildings.

Even the release didn't help, and she felt like she could scream her throat bloody and her body would still explode from the pressure of her emotions. She pulled the charm Adrien had made for her, for her birthday, from her pocket, considering the merits of throwing it as hard as she could and seeing whether she was strong enough to hurl it to the next rooftop.

Dimly, she heard Tikki begging her to calm down, her voice going quiet to be replaced by her maman's voice, panicked, then her papa's.

She looked down to see the Akuma land on the charm and absorb into it.

Then a chill fell over everything, and she heard his voice.

_My dear Cinderetta…_

Oh fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck.

… _Your friends only want you on their terms, when they need you. Expect you to do favors, give your time, but won't listen to you, don't care about your emotions, your needs…_

She was absolutely screwed.

Or perhaps more realistically, Paris was. No one had ever resisted Hawkmoth, and as emotionally compromised as she was right now, she didn't stand a chance. She hated that she couldn't even be a normal teenager because of this windbag.

… _I'm giving you the power to show their true colors, to end their masquerade. It'll be midnight for all of them; just bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous!_

She felt cold, the world growing dim, as though she was being sucked into a tunnel.

Faintly, she heard her own voice.

"Yes, Hawkmoth. They'll all be unmasked. Especially Ladybug and Chat Noir."

And then there was nothing.

* * *

When next Marinette was aware, she was on the floor of her classroom, surrounded by people, including Chat Noir, who had covered the lower half of his face with a bandanna for some reason.

"D-did I get Akumatized?" she asked, hesitant.

Alya, who's hair looked oddly poofy, opened her mouth to answer, then winced as all that came out was a loud "BAAAAH!"

Nino was sporting a turtle shell. Rose looked like her face had turned into the center of a large sunflower. Juleka was dressed like a princess, her hair done up in a beautiful and complicated braid. There was a harpy straight out of a fairy tale sitting on one of the desks nearby. Mme. Bustier's eyes were white with blindness. And there was even an angry-looking person who looked like a witch standing off to the side, trying to shake an apple from her hand.

"Who's that?"

The witch narrowed her eyes. "You know perfectly well who I am, you little bitch!"

Marinette blinked. "Oh. Lila. I guess that apple is poisonous, then."

That earned an incoherent shriek followed by ranting in Italian.

She wondered, for a moment, why they weren't back to normal, but then she saw the Akuma in a jar under Chat's arm and remembered only Ladybug could purify it and use Miraculous Cure. And Marinette was Ladybug.

"What happened?" she asked, her gaze settling on Chat.

"You became Cinderetta, said you'd 'unmask' everyone. Which I guess means you'd show everyone's true colors, or something," he said, sounding discontent. "Ladybug hasn't gotten here yet, or this would all be reversed."

Alya held up her phone, which had a picture of the Akuma. Cinderetta's clothing was tattered, what would be a gorgeous black gown if not for the fact that it was rags. The whites of her eyes had gone black, leaving her blue pupils in stark contrast. Her hair was no longer held in pigtails, but lengthened in a cut that looked like it had been done with a hacksaw. Black tears ran down her face. She was holding a wand.

So Alya was a sheep. Nino was a turtle, hunkering down to avoid conflict. Rose, who was as gentle as a flower. Juleka, who was beautiful on the inside. Mme. Bustier, who had been blind to what was happening in her classroom.

"That explains Lila, I guess." Lila who poisoned everything with her words.

That earned louder ranting in Italian from the witch, but shamefaced looks from the rest of the class… at least the ones there and who had faces.

"But who's the harpy?"

That got a snicker from across the room. "Chloé," Alix's voice called.

The harpy gave Marinette a menacing glare. She decided not to waste her breath on an apology.

"I'm sorry, Marinette," Nino said after a moment. "We didn't know how you were feeling, and we didn't listen. We took you for granted, and it hurt you. Your feelings are valid, dudette."

Turtle-boy offered her a hand, helping her to her feet, and she saw the rest of the class.

Kim had been partially transformed into a monkey. She could only imagine the Pinocchio was Markov. Max's eyes were enormous and owlish. Ivan had a lion's mane. Mylène had mouse ears. Nathaniel was sporting a fox's ears and tail—which had to be infuriating to Alya. Alix, hilariously, had bunny ears popping out of her pink hair; her nose kept twitching. Sabrina, terrifyingly, had no features on her face at all.

Marinette glanced around the room. "What happened to Adrien? Is he okay?"

Nino put a hand on her shoulder. "Dudette, he turned into a prince with a pig's nose."

She put her face in her hands. He might hate her now, and she didn't know how to feel about that.

She took a deep breath before shakily lowering her hands.

Actually, Marinette knew exactly how she felt about it. She went back to her seat.

"Mme. Bustier, we should continue with our lesson while we wait for Ladybug, don't you think?" she asked sweetly, quietly reveling in the disbelieving stares she received from some of her classmates.

They'd earned their unmasking, after all, and they could live with it for a few hours until after school.

Chat could find Ladybug later.

Maybe.

Bonus:

Plagg cackled at his chosen as the boy sulked in the bathroom, not wanting to return to class even after hiding the jarred Akuma in a locker and detransforming.

Adrien glared at him, but the pig's nose twitched of its own accord and ruined the effect, sending the kwami into another fit of helpless giggles.

"It's not funny, Plagg!"

"The hell it isn't. I swear, you're so lucky it wasn't worse."

Boy were they lucky, Plagg thought grimly, though outwardly he kept laughing at his charge. Ladybug Akumatized because of Adrien's spinelessness. He'd have to slap the boy with a clue stick so it wouldn't happen again.

Otherwise the ratings would have to go up to accommodate the language he'd be using.

* * *

You know not what you have unleashed.

Quick and dirty crack-umazation fic.


End file.
